Fairy Tales Aren't Always Made Up
by kei-taiga
Summary: Kageyama expects to be bored on this dinner cruise, but he ends up discovering something in the water. Or would it be better to say he discovered someone?
1. Newsflash: the ocean is dangerous

Tobio had never really liked the sea. It was dark, heavy, and it smelt bad. The reason his parents had dragged him to this dinner cruise was beyond him. Granted, it was a work-related affair, but did that really mean dragging along their teenage son was necessary? After sitting through the formalities and speeches, Tobio escaped to the lower deck and stood at the railing near the side. It was raining pretty hard out so he couldn't go all the way to the bow, but at least the wind blew away the strong smell of alcohol and perfume.

He took a deep breath of the fresh air, fingers twitching. Damn, he really wanted to play. Normally he would be an hour into practice by now but instead, he was stuck on this damn boat. He pushed himself onto the railing until he was sitting comfortably with his back to the water. It probably wasn't the safest maneuver out there, but his feet hurt and there was no way in hell he was going back into the main cabin.

"Tobio!"

Crap.

He looked up to see his mother walking unsteadily through the small hallway, a large group of women behind her.

"There you are! We were just talking about you!"

They all crammed themselves under the tiny overhang of the lower deck and proceeded with their gossiping. In the midst of this, Tobio realized two things. One, they were all drunk to some degree. Two, he really needed to get down from the railing. If any of them lost their balance and accidentally hit him, there was a good chance of falling overboard.

Tobio was trying to squirm his way down, though not making much process, when the boat really started to rock. One of the women slipped and fell back towards him, effectively getting him off the railing, but sadly on the wrong side. He gave a shout of alarm as he fell, his mother's panicked scream cut off quickly by the water closing in over his head.

Strangely, Tobio's first reaction to being suddenly submerged in the ocean was not panic. It was more of a 'HOLY FUCK THAT'S COLD' kind of thing. Then the panic set in. It was dark, he couldn't tell which way was up, and the ocean had sharks. Big ones. With teeth.

He tried to open his eyes as he flailed his arms about, but the saltwater stung so much he had to keep them shut. He was running out of air. This was bad. He could feel himself getting tired, the lack of oxygen making his brain shut down. His body went limp.

He felt something brush by his leg. A fish? His mind screamed at him to move and conjured up terrifying images of what was there with him, but he just couldn't. Then something touched his shoulder. Strangely, it felt like… a hand? Two arms wrapped around his upper body, a hand held the base of his head. He felt something push open his lips and he desperately tried to take a breath, though he knew that there was only water around him. To his surprise, air flowed in through his lips. He took another breath, and another, his body relaxing now that he wasn't in any immediate danger of death.

The person holding onto him tightened their grip, then Tobio felt water moving past him. He was being taken somewhere? He felt his head break the surface and his mouth was freed. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, vision blurry. He could make out a face, a little smaller than his own, with large eyes. The person in front of him reached forwards with one hand and brushed Tobio's sodden hair out of his eyes, then smiled and let go completely. Tobio panicked for a moment, then his feet hit the sandy bottom. He had been brought to a beach? His rescuer leaned closer.

"You really should go to a hospital. And swim during the day next time stupid!"

A boy's voice. Tobio could only stare as the boy turned around and dove back into the waves.

No way.

Impossible.

From the waist down, he had a tail?

It took a few minutes before Tobio realized he was still standing chest deep in the ocean. It was freezing. He dragged himself out of the water and collapsed on the sand. He was so tired. He had no idea how long he'd been underwater. The adrenaline in his system was gone, leaving only the exhaustion that comes with a near death experience.

After some time, he heard yelling and a few people came running up beside him.

"Oi! Are you okay?"

"Can you hear me?"

"Someone call an ambulance!"

"What's your name?"

He managed to tell them his name, then passed out. He was done.

* * *

Tobio woke up to a white ceiling and the smell of disinfectant. This was definitely not his room. He sat up slowly, taking a good look at his surroundings. When his eyes rested on the pitcher of water on the bedside table, everything came rushing back. He'd been at a party, a drunken lady had knocked him off the boat, and then a merman had saved him. He could barely believe it, but it was the truth. He must be in a hospital. Tobio sat there for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do. He would have gotten up to try and find someone, but a quick glance told him that he was wearing a hospital gown. Which meant that his butt would be completely uncovered. There goes that idea.

After further inspection, he saw a small device with a red button next to the pitcher. It would probably call a nurse. He reached over and pushed to button, a small 'beep' ringing out. It didn't take long for a nurse to come into the room.

"Ah, so your awake. How are you feeling dear?"

She smiled at him and propped her clipboard on her hip, pen at the ready.

"Tired. Where is this?"

"This is a hospital. You came in yesterday night. A group of college students found you on the beach. Do you remember anything?"

"Yeah. I was on a boat, but then someone accidentally knocked me off and I fell into the ocean. The next thing I knew there were people asking my name."

Tobio decided to leave out the merman bit. In this case, they'd probably think he had brain damage and send him in for a host of unnecessary tests. He didn't have time for that. He wanted to be back on the court.

"Okay, and I'll need you parents names and phone numbers so that we can contact them."  
Tobio quickly relayed the information.

"Hmm… Okay. I'll go call them and let them know you're here. We've still got to run some more tests to make sure you're okay though, so you'll be staying the night. Don't go anywhere! If you need anything, just press the button."

And with that, she left, leaving Tobio with nothing to do other than stare into space and go back to sleep until the doctors came by.

* * *

Tobio had never understood why people used the term 'blubbering' to describe tears, but upon seeing his mother, he found that it fit perfectly. It took about an hour of 'I'm okay', 'it's not your fault' and 'excuse me, could I please have another tissue box' until the poor woman calmed down. Still, she wouldn't let go of his hand until the nurses came and forcefully kicked her out at the end of visiting hours. Then came the tests. They needed to make sure that his lungs were clear and his brain was still functioning after being in the water so long. Thankfully, the merman had been smart enough to drop him on a beach that was close to the boat, so no one suspected anything out of the ordinary.

When he was finally allowed back to bed, he was relieved. The tests had all turned out fine so he would be released the day after tomorrow. They told him to take it easy for a week, just to be certain, but Tobio knew that there was no way in hell he'd sit on his butt for seven days. He'd give it three. If nothing weird happened, then he'd go back to his normal routine.

He flopped back onto the bed, thankful his mother had brought him proper pyjamas so he didn't have to worry about his backside so much. Tobio stared at the ceiling as he tried to get to sleep.

A merman huh…

He wondered whether it had all been a dream, but decided that it must have happened. There was no other reason why his lungs were completely clear of water and he hadn't received any brain damage from lack of oxygen.

He tried to remember the merman's face, but the only thing he could properly recall was the boy's voice. Tobio was curious. He definitely wanted to meet this creature again.

But first, he had to get out of this hospital.


	2. Catching a merman: Grab on, don't drown

After the accident, Tobio had slipped into a routine. Every Sunday, he would spend at least a few hours at the beach he'd been found on. It was the only lead he had and he didn't know what else to do, so he had kept up the excursions for the past two months. He was still burning with curiosity. Well, who wouldn't be?

Tobio sat down on his usual large, flat rock and propped his bag up next to him, taking out a book on volleyball strategy. Realistically, there should be no way he'd meet the merman again by chance, but he could try. Apart from drowning himself again, this was all he could do.

To his surprise, after about an hour of silence he started noticing something out of the corner of his eye. There was a flicker of movement from behind a rock a little ways away from shore, but whatever it was disappeared every time he tried to take a direct look. The glimpses he could catch confirmed that it was definitely a person's head.

Was it possible? Could it be the merman?

Tobio rearranged himself on the rock so that he was lying down with the book over his eyes and pretended to sleep, hoping that it would be enough to draw out whoever was playing peek-a-boo with him.

He waited for what seemed like forever, then Tobio heard something move in the water close by. He sat up in a flash, snatching the book off his eyes.

Sitting there in the shallows, looking startled, was a boy that seemed a bit younger than him. The boy was shirtless, and had a familiar-looking shape to his face. Tobio glanced further down and saw something shiny just under the surface of the water.

The boy also had a tail. It was covered in light, iridescent orange scales and ended in a delicate-looking fin that reminded him of the Siamese fighting fish one of his cousins used to have.

He couldn't believe his eyes. There was an actual merman sitting in front of him.

The merman seemed to realize his situation, gasped, then turned and dove under the water, trying to make a quick getaway.

Well, Tobio was having none of that. He launched himself forwards, ignoring the fact that he was fully clothed and the water was cold, and managed to grab onto the base of the merman's tail. Everything became even more real as he felt the little scales moving under his fingers, muscles contracting as the merman squirmed in his grip.

"Hey! Let go! What do you think you're doing?!"

It was definitely the same voice as that night.

The merman was panicking. His struggles got even more violent and Tobio was having a hard time keeping his grip.

"Oi, calm down! I just want to talk! Nothing weird okay!"

He shouted the first thing that came to his mind. Predictably, it did nothing. The merman was still panicking, and Tobio was starting to lose his footing as he was dragged into deeper water. It surged around him and he ended up coughing violently when he got a bunch in his mouth.

Almost instantly, the merman seemed to calm down. He stopped thrashing his tail around and started pushing them back towards shore, stopping when they were about waist deep.

"You know, you should really take some swimming lessons."

"I can swim just fine! I just had some water in my mouth!"

"But you were choking."

"Well that's because you were thrashing around so much!"

Tobio sat down on the rocky bottom with a huff and caught his breath. He still had the merman's tail in his hands.

"If I let go, will you run away again?"

The merman looked offended.

"I won't! And I wasn't running away!"

Well, that was simple.

Tobio climbed out of the water and back towards his bag. He took off his sweater and shoes, laying them out in the hopes that the sun would dry them out. The merman, true to his word, didn't move. He just sat there, watching as Tobio wrung out his socks.

"What's your name?"

The merman jumped when Tobio broke the silence.

"Hinata Shouyou..."

"I'm Kageyama Tobio."

"I know."

Tobio froze and then put down his socks. Did he hear wrong?

"Did you just say…?"

"Don't your friends call you the King of the Court?"

Tobio glared, his expression darkening. Hinata even knew of that horrible nickname.

"Oi, don't you dare call me that."

"Why not? It sounds cool!"

"Wait a minute, how the hell do you know all this?"

Hinata smiled at him.

"Its probably easier to show you instead of just telling you."

With that, Hinata propelled himself to the edge of the water with a few quick flicks of his tail and hauled himself out with his arms. After a few minutes of sitting on land, the scales of his tail started to disappear, slowly melting into skin and leaving behind two, completely normal-looking legs.

With the appropriate nether-regions in between.

Tobio turned red and flung his soaked sweater at Hinata.

"This is a public beach! Cover yourself!"

Hinata, seeming to realize that someone could possibly come by even though they were in a quite secluded area, flushed and quickly set about wrapping the sweater around himself.

"See, I can walk around in your world too!"

"You still haven't explained how you know me."

"Oh. Well, you play volleyball right?"

There was something about the way Hinata's face seemed to light up at the mention of the sport.

"I really like volleyball! I've seen a bunch of matches, though I've never played in one since I don't go to school on land."

That made a lot of sense. If he'd been watching matches, Hinata might've come across that nickname at least once.

Tobio leaned back against the large rock behind him, trying to get comfortable.

"Why did you help me that night? And how was I able to breathe underwater?"

Hinata stiffened and his face started turning pink.

"Erm, you were in the water and you would've died."

"What about the breathing part?"

Hinata fussed with the string on the hood of Tobio's sweater, obviously trying to dodge the question. Seeing that Tobio wasn't giving up, he sighed and answered, face getting redder as he went.

"I breathe underwater though gills on the sides of my neck. See?"

He ran his fingers over a few barely visible lines on either side of his throat.

"Well, if I want to, I can force air out through my mouth even when I'm breathing underwater. So… I guess I was… using that method on you…"

Hinata was bright red.

Tobio's face was quickly approaching the same shade.

His first kiss had been taken by a merman. And no matter how cute Hinata was, the fact was that he was a mer_man_. Not a mer_maid_.

Tobio's ideal first kiss scenario dramatically crumbled to pieces in his mind.

Wait, a minute. Cute? He thought of this creature as cute?

He pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers, trying to force his brain to process all of this new information. As he thought, or tried to, he watched his new acquaintance. Hinata's hair was beginning to dry.

It was kind of incredible. Instead of the dark, orangish-brown it appeared to be when wet, Hinata's dry hair was a vibrant orange, similar to the colours in his tail but stronger. As it dried, it became a fluffy mess that stuck out at all angles. Tobio's fingers itched to touch it, to see if it was really as soft and fluffy as it looked.

Hinata, on the other hand, was still fidgeting with the sweater string, sporting the same complexion one would expect from a tomato.

"Well, thanks… I guess…"

Tobio muttered the words grumpily and as quietly as he could. It really wasn't in his nature to act humble, but the boy he was technically his lifesaver and Tobio wasn't taking any chances with karma.

He definitely didn't regret that decision.

The smile he received from giving those four simple words was like an explosion of sunlight. Tobio could only stare. It must be the whole merman thing. There was no way a normal human could pull off such a vibrant expression.

"You're welcome, King!"

Tobio gritted his teeth as he heard that horrible nickname again and his eyebrows twitched downwards. That hated nickname paired with that expression?

This was fraud.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!"


	3. The Daily Life of Kageyama Tobio

It was starting to get dark out when Tobio remembered that it was a Sunday. Which meant that the burden known as school would be demanding his attention tomorrow. After making Hinata promise to be there next week, he packed up his stuff and put his shoes back on. The sweater was left behind, since Hinata insisted that he didn't want to grow his scales with an audience and there was no way in hell Tobio was going to just leave him there naked.

He stood up and glanced down at the merman, who still had that stupid smile on his face.

"So, I'll be back next week."

Hinata's grin widened.

"Yup! I'll definitely be here too! Try not to drown before then!"

Tobio glared at Hinata, then reached down and grabbed his head, putting as much pressure as he could into his fingertips.

"OW OW OW OW! That hurts! Oi!"

Hinata's hair was soft, softer than it should be after being in the ocean. Maybe it was a merman thing? It was just so damn fluffy.

"Kageyama-sama! I offer up my sincerest apology!"

Hinata's begging brought Tobio back down to earth and he quickly let go.

"Phew… That really hurt…"

Hinata sulkily rubbed a few places on his head, trying to get rid of the lingering sensation, and made his already messy hair stand up even more. Tobio wanted nothing other than to repeat his previous action, partially out of irritation and partially cause Hinata's head looked so damn pettable.

The distant 'meep' of a car's horn brought him back to reality.

Crap.

He needed to get home.

"I'm leaving."

And with that awkward parting statement, Tobio marched away as fast as the uneven rock of the shoreline would let him. He slowed when he reached the bus stop.

Six days.

In another six days they could meet again.

Tobio mind was preoccupied for the rest of the evening, thinking of the questions he could ask and the places they could go, but one thing sprang to the forefront of his mind like usual.

Volleyball.

He really wanted to try and play volleyball together.

* * *

Waking up the next morning was a mistake.

"Okay class, now please take out your homework."

Tobio racked his brain and sank lower in his chair, trying to think of something to justify his incomplete math homework and disappear at the same time. It was useless. The teacher was calling them up by name to submit it.

"Kageyama-kun."

Tobio flinched.

It was time.

He walked up to the teacher's desk and handed her his clump of papers.

"Kageyama-kun? What's this? It's almost all blank!"

He could tell that the entire class was trying to hold in their snickering.

"I was busy this weekend so I forgot to complete it."

"Oh? What were you busy doing?"

Tobio racked his brain, but nothing came up that could save him.

"Looking for a mermaid."

Silence.

Total silence.

Then, thinking he was making a wisecrack, the majority of his classmates burst into a full bout of laughter, the kind that left you gasping for air with tears running down your face.

"Did he just say mermaid?"

"Oh my god really… pfft!"

"Haha, nice one Kageyama!"

The teacher sent him back to his seat with a firm "We'll talk about this later" and went back to her homework reaping.

* * *

Tobio marched into the gym half an hour late and burdened by an extra two packages of math homework. "One for not finishing, and one for disturbing class." His teacher had told him with a malicious smile.

This sucked.

He quickly explained himself to the captain and then set about warming up. It only took five minutes before he'd gotten rid of all thoughts regarding the dreary night of equations ahead.

They started doing three on threes after finishing the basic drills. Tobio got Asahi-san and Daichi-san, versus Suga-san, Nishinoya and Tanaka. It was a hell of a game.

As the sweat dripped down the back of his neck, his focus sharpened. Was there an opening? When would be best to attack on his own? Where the hell was Nishinoya and how was he receiving their spikes so easily dammit?! That was the eighth time already!

Thankfully, Daichi-san was doing the exact same thing. They couldn't get a point, but they also didn't give any up.

After ten minutes, they called it quits.

Neither team had made any headway and the score still sat at a lazy-looking zero. It was like the number was mocking him, sitting there and daring him to say he'd done his best.

They switched things up, played for another hour, and then started to tidy up their equipment. It was a Monday so there was another club using the gym after their time ended. Since he had been late, Tobio was given the extra special gift of sweeping duty.

He hated sweeping.

He tried to think of a way out, but the terrifying stare the captain was giving him suddenly turned sweeping into his new favourite pastime. He'd already been forgiven for missing part of practice, pushing his luck any further would be unwise.

Tobio was a little more than halfway done when he glimpsed something in his peripheral vision.

Something orange.

He knew that particular shade pretty damn well, despite only discovering it recently. He whirled around, searching, and stopped when he saw the window right next to the door.

There was someone peering in at them. Someone with a small face, large eyes and a messy head of orange hair.

No. Freaking. Way.

"Hinata?!"

Tobio dropped the broom and ran out the door to find a very human-looking Hinata wearing a full set of clothes and hanging from the window ledge so he could see inside.

Tobio was at a loss for words, so his face settled into his default glare, trying to communicate his confusion and surprise. Apparently, that wasn't the best idea. Hinata made an "Eep!" kind of noise and bolted down the path towards the school gate.

Crap.

Tobio restrained himself from giving chase, he still had sweeping to do, and marched back inside. Thankfully, his little mad dash had gone unnoticed by the other club members. What would he have done if they started asking questions?

Tobio finished sweeping in record time and raced out. The chances of finding Hinata were almost nonexistent, but he would still try. There was no way it was coincidence that he'd been at that specific gym, at that particular time, right when the volleyball club was holding practice.

As he jogged past the vending machines, he wondered how long Hinata had been there. All practice? Nah, he would've noticed. Maybe since they started the series of mini games…

Kageyama skidded to a halt near the bike racks.

Found him.

Hinata was walking towards the main road, tugging a sturdy-looking bike along on his right side.

Kageyama sprinted full tilt towards him. He grabbed Hinata's shoulder, getting a startled yell for his efforts, and practically forced him to stop in his tracks.

"Oi! Don't just run away from people!"

"Sorry! Sorry! I was just curious! Sorry!"

Hinata was frantically trying to squirm out of his grip.

"Huh? Why are you apologizing?"

"I didn't know you'd be so mad!"

"I'm not mad!"

"Liar! If looks could kill I'd be eight feet under!"

"I said I'm not mad so calm the hell down you idiot!"

Hinata gave him a confused and frustrated stare, but stopped squirming. Tobio slowly removed his hand.

"You know, people are gonna start suspecting something if you act all weird when you see me."

Tobio was tempted to put Hinata in a headlock, but restrained himself since it was the truth, no matter how vexing. Hinata looked completely normal.

"Where'd those clothes come from?"

Hinata frowned and tilted his head.

"Erm, my closet? If you want brands then…"

He started trying to twist around to check the label of his shirt. Tobio almost died of embarrassment on the spot and decided to pretend that he had indeed been asking about the brand of Hinata's plain white t-shirt.

If his skills of deduction were working at full power, this meant Hinata had a house on land, or at least a disembodied closet floating around. It made may too much sense. How else would he have watched volleyball games? And he had a bike too.

"Do you live nearby?"

"Yup! About half an hour away by bike. Oh, this shirt's from one of those packs of three you can get at the sports store down the block."

Tobio nodded like the information was something that actually mattered. So merpeople live on land too huh…

"Hey, do you have time after club tomorrow? I want you to toss to me!"

"Huh?"

"Volleyball! I wanna spike!"

"No. You're probably lousy at it."

"Rude! I'm not lousy!"

"But you're tiny! You probably wouldn't even get it over the net!"

Apparently Tobio had made a bit of a blunder with the last comment. Hinata glared up at him.

"I may be short, but I can jump!"

"No."

"I'll let you touch my tail."

"…"

Tobio really wanted that. It was human nature to want to touch new objects and Hinata's tail was no exception.

"Fine. I'll give you a toss. But if you're lousy, then its gonna only be one!"

Hinata's face broke out into that sunshine-filled grin and he pumped his fist into the air in a victory pose.

God dammit.

Tobio had not signed up for this.


End file.
